Yarn lubricant



Patented May 5, 1953 YARN LUBRICANT John L. Baggett and Marshall W. Duke, Cumberland, Md., assignors to Celanese Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware No Drawing. Application April 16, 1949.

Serial No. 88,052-

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to the treatment of filaments and yarns and relates more particularly to compositions for the conditioning of filaments and yarns having a basis of cellulose acetate or other organic derivative of cellulose to render the same more amenable to textile operations, especially warp knitting or other types of knitting operations.

An object of this invention is the provision of an improved composition for the treatment of filaments and yarns having a basis of cellulose acetate, or other organic derivative of cellulose, which composition is capable of being applied to said yarns and filamentsas they emerge from the spinning cabinet or metier in which they are formed so as to render said yarns and filaments, without further application of any conditioning composition, readily amenable to all subsequent textile operations, including warping and knitting.

Another object of this invention is the provision of conditioning compositions of closely controlled viscosity for application to yarns and filaments having a basis of cellulose acetate or other organic derivative of cellulose.

Other objects of this invention will appear from the following detailed description.

Many compositions have been employed for the lubrication and conditioning of textile materials for the various textile operations to which they are subjected in the course of their conversion into fabric materials by either weaving or knitting operations. While some improvements have beennoted in the properties of the yarns and filaments so treated, certain processing dificulties have 'not been completely eliminated. Many of the compositions tend to undergo chemical or even physical changes while on the treated yarns or filaments, not only during application but also in storage, i. e. prior to use. Because of these changes, these yarn conditioning or lubricating compositions yielded non-uniform results in application and were responsible for non-uniform running characteristics in the'yarns so treated.

We have now found that these and other disadvantages may be avoided by employing a conditioning composition containing a plurality of components, each of which is stable and imparts one or more desirable properties to the cellulose acetate or other organic derivative of cellulose yarns and filaments treated therewith, and then adjusting the moisture content of the conditioning' agent so formulated that the same contains the equilibrium moisture content for the humidity conditions under which it is to be applied. By

' 2 so formulating our novel conditioning composition, the latter retains a constant viscosity during application and is capable of uniform and even application to the textile materials.

The novel yarn lubricating and conditioning composition of our invention comprises a mixture of a mineral oil, an aryl phosphate such as tricresyl phosphate, a long chain aliphatic acid such as oleic acid, an alkylolamine, and a small amount of a blending agent such as oleyl alcohol, lauryl alcohol or other long chain aliphatic alcohol, together with a multi-component conditioning agent, the preparation of which will hereinafter be described in detail. The fatty acid and alkylolamine are preferably present in stoichiometric quantities so that an alkylolamine oleate will be formed during the formulation of said composition. v

The multi-component conditioning agent of which our novel composition is in part composed consists of the desalted and'dehydrated alkalineutralized reaction product, diluted with mineral oil, obtained on reacting oleum with-Ia mixture of a higher fatty acid, a vegetable oil and mineral oil to which reaction mixture an alkylated phenol has been added, after sulfonation, but before desalting and dehydration.

The multi-component conditioning agent mentioned above is prepared by reacting a mixture of mineral oil, a vegetable oil such as olive oil, rice oil or peanut oil, and a long chain aliphatic acid such as oleic acid, ricinoleic acid or palmitoleic acid with fuming sulfuric acid such as 20% oleum at a temperature no greater than about 20 C. Under these conditions at least part of the aliphatic acid and the vegetable oil-employed are sulfatedand/or sulfonated. At-the' completion of the sulfation and/or sulfonation reaction, an alkylated phenol, such as dibutyl or diamyl phenol, is added to the reaction mixture to stabilize the same and to act as a penetrant and an anti-oxidant. The addition of the alkyl phenol is followed by the addition of asufilcient amount of an alkali metal hydroxide to neutralize all of the sulfuric acid remaining and the major portion of the free aliphatic acid. The batch is then stirred until reaction ceases and a clear oil is formed.

The sulfated and/or sulfonated reaction product obtained in the manner described above is subjected to a desalting and," dehydration treatment before it is diluted with'imineral oil, in which form it is employed as a component in our novel composition; The desalting and dehydration is efiected by diluting the neutralized reaction product with an organic solvent such as anhydrous isopropyl alcohol which is a nonsolvent for the inorganic salts present and which forms an azeotrope with water. The alcohol addition causes the salts to be precipitated from solution. The precipitated salts are then filtered out and the isopropyl alcohol distilled off, the water which is present in the mixture coming off as an azeotrope With the isopropyl alcohol. Preferably, the temperature of the sulfonated mixture being distilled should not exceed about 119 C. during the distillation operation. If any water remains, .an additional quantity of anhydrous isopropyl alcohol is then added and the diluted mixture again distilled to remove the remaining water as well as the alcohol. Prior to distillation, a filter aid .such as diatomaceous earth or bentonite, for example, may be added and the solution filtered to improve the clarity and remove any inorganic salts :still present. The still residue remaining after distillation comprises the composition em: ployed .as the saltfree, dehydrated component.

The latter is diluted by the addition "of mineral oil, prior to use as the 'multi-component conditioning agent in our novel composition. The desired degree of dilution is obtained by adding to about 40 parts by weight of the salt-free, dehydrated product about 6i) parts by weight of mineral oil.

-To form the final composition of our invention, from about 50170169 parts 'byweight of mineral :oil are mixed with 14: 470.12 parts by weight of 'triaryl phosphate, '5 to 14 parts by weight of a long chain fatty .ZICid, 2.5 to 7 parts by Weight of the alkylolamine and 0.25 .to 0.75 part by weight of. a. long chain aliphatic alcohol, and then to 80 parts by Weight of the mineral oil: diluted. desalted, dehydrated. .suliated and/o1- sulfonated reaction product then added to the mixture. When the amount .of water present in the mixture is adjusted :to the equilibrium moisture content, the composition should contain about 1.3 to 1.6% by weight of water when it is to be employed under conditions of '55 to 65% relative humidity and about 0.5 to 0.7% by weight of Water when .it is to be employed under conditions of 38 to 49% relative humidity.

In order further to illustrate our invention,

. Exampl I.

Thedesalted, dehydrated component of our novel composition is prepared as follows:

A "mixture of 117 parts by weight of act-refined white mineral oil of about 550 Saybolt viscosity at 100 89 par-ts by weight of olcic acid, and l3-parts by weight of raw peanut oil are cooled to -8 to 10 C. in a suitable vessel provided with a cooling jacket and then 27 parts by weight of 26% ol-eum are added over a period of one-half hour. The temperature rises due to the exothermic nature of the reaction but the maximum temperature is held .to below C. by cooling. The reaction mixture is then stirred for an additional 4.5 minutes with the temperatureheld at 20 C. To the reaction mixture, there are now added 21 parts by weight of diamyl phenol, followed by the addition of by weight of 3.50 by weight aqueous solution ofsodium hydroxide. The resulting neutralized mixture is cooled to room temmews s rin The sulfonated reaction mixture obtained is then desalted by the addition thereto of sufficient anhydrous isopropyl alcohol to precipitate the inorganic salts present. About 0.1 to 0.4% by weight of a diatomaceous earth filter aid is then added and the salts and filter aid are then removed by filtration. The filtered solution is distilled under vacuum and the isopropyl alcohol and water are taken off as an azeotropic mixture with the still temperature held at a maximum of C. The still residue comprises the desalted and dehydrated reaction product which, after dilution with mineral oil in a ratio of 40 parts by weight of the still residue to 60 parts by weight .of mineral oil, is incorporated in said diluted form as a component of our novel conditiomng agent.

Example II viscosity 52.2 Oleic acid 9.4 Triethanolamine 4L7 Trioresyl phosphate 8.4 Oleyl alcohol 0.5

Mineral oil-diluted, desalted and dehydrated reaction'produc't of Example 'I 24.8

For application to cellulose acetate yarns being processed under conditions of 58% relative humidity, 1.4 parts .byweight-of water are then added .and the final composition filtered until a clear, sparkling liquid is obtained. p

Excellent results are obtained on cellulose acetate yarns when about 4% by weight of the above conditioning agent is applied thereto as said yarns leave the spinning cabinet or metier in which they are formed by, dry-spinning operations. The yarns are thoroughly lubricated and conditioned for textile operations with this single application and may be warped and knitted very satisfactorily withoutany further treatment. Storage or the yarns prior to use does not adversely aiilect the conditioning agent thereon and .no thickening. summing or other undesiralJ'le chemical change can be noted.

Whilethe application of said novel condition-. ing agent has been described more particularly in connection with yarns having a basis of cellulose acetate, equally valuable results may- .beobtained where the yarns have a basis of other organic derivative of cellulose materials. Examples of other organic derivative of cellulose. materials .arecellulose esters such as cellulose propionate, cellulose butyrate, cellulose acetate-- pmpionate and cellulose .acetate-hutyrate as 'well as cellulose others :such as ethyl cellulose and benzyl cellulose.

It is to be understood that the foregoing detailed description is given merely by way of illustration and that many variations may he made therein without departing from the spirit of our invention.

Having described our invention, what we desire'to secure byLetters Patcntis:

in composition for the treatment of textile material .haying a basis of .cellulosezaeetate, which comprises a two-component composition consistmg-oi (1') a mixture of 5.0111; E60 parts -by wei ht t meral. oil. 4 to .12 parts y weight 'Of.!t1i- 6 cresyl phosphate, 5 to 14 parts by weight of oleic acid, 2.5 to '7 parts by weight of triethanolamine References Cited in e fi e of this patent H and 0.25 to 0.75 part by weight of oleyl alcohol, UNITED STATES PATENTS and (2) to parts by weight of a condition- N b N D ing agent comprising the desalted and dehyum er ame ate 1,852,891 Whitehead Apr. 5, 1932 drated sodlum hydroxlde neutralized reactlon 2 067 219 h d J product of oleum with a mixture of oleic acid, 2182'323 s 1 6 ea 3 1937 peanut oil and mineral oil, having diamyl phenol i 1939 incorporated therein which reaction product has 2427'242 Vltahs Sept 1947 2,479,644 Seymour et a1. Aug. 23, 1949 been diluted with about by weight of min- 10 eral oil, the two-component composition having a water content of about 1.3 to 1.6% by weight in equilibrium with the water content of the atmosphere at a humidity of 55 to JOHN L. BAGGETT. 15 MARSHALL W. DUKE.

2,556,262 Faeber June 12, 1951 

